JAMES Vince’s Test debut is as perfectly timed as one of his cover drives.

That is the view shared by, among others, Hampshire director of cricket Giles White and Alan Crouch, Wiltshire's, ahead of Vince’s bow against Sri Lanka at Headingley today.

“Before now might have been too early, his four-day game has been a little up and down,” said White.

“Last year, for example, he didn’t get going early on. But I sense the timing’s right. He’s going into a good England side and it’s not a bad team to play against up front.”

Crouch agrees. “I think it’s perfect timing, he’s matured and is more aware of himself. In the past, players like Swanny (Graeme Swann) have been brought in too young and then been left out for a period of time.

“But I’m sure Vincey will be given a run in the side, whatever happens in this match. He won’t be judged on one performance and batting at five will give him time to settle in and absorb what’s going on.”

Vince, who made 119 against Yorkshire at Headingley last month, had been a contender to bat at No 3 before Nick Compton retained his place.

“I wouldn’t have been concerned if he’d batted at three, he’s shown he can cope with a moving ball,” added White.

“But five is a very good place to bat, it’s a great opportunity for him.”

Vince made his England debut in a rained-off one-day international against Ireland in Dublin last May before his first three international T20 performances earned him man-of-the series against Pakistan in Dubai in November.

Now he is preparing for his first international on home soil, 15 years after his first adult game - a 40 overs-a-side match for Erlestoke & Coulston CC.

The rural Wiltshire village club, based a few miles from the family home in Steeple Ashton, also helped produce former Gloucestershire seamer Tom Stayt, who fielded for England as 12th man against West Indies at Old Trafford in 2004.

Vince learnt the rudiments of the game under the tutelage of the club’s junior coach, Jasper Dorgan, a novelist who easily recalls the first chapter of the Hampshire captain’s career.

“James came to us as a junior around the age of nine and stayed for three seasons.

“He was a very enthusiastic player, he loved the game and was playing with a straight bat and hitting a cover drive against a hard ball from an early age.

“He was in two very good championship-winning sides, for our U10s and U13s.

“But at that stage I wouldn’t say he stood out as a major star of the future. I think cricket talent is different to other sports, it develops over a longer period of time.”

At 13, Vince moved on to Chippenham CC, where he was once described as “a right-handed David Gower”.

An exceptional sportsman, he was in the junior ranks at Reading FC until he was 14, when he was midway through his time at Warminster School.

His former PE teacher, Tim Cashell, recalls. “We knew he was a good football player but, when he arrived as a Year 6, it was the way he manoeuvred a hockey stick and a rugby ball for the first time which marked him out as an exceptional sportsman.

“He was an outstanding fly-half for the school and could also throw a javelin a long way. The only sport he didn’t excel at was swimming.

“But there was one game I didn’t select him for. He was so good it wasn’t necessary to play him against the local state school - for whom Liam Dawson then scored a century against us!

“James was a delight, a fantastic team player but also a very introverted young man.

“I wondered if that would be his Achilles heel but he’s developed the extrovert traits needed as a professional sportsman and his parents, Paul and Sue, were always incredibly supportive.”

Crouch has also recalled Vince’s shyness as a schoolboy, but soon noticed his potential.

“The one common denominator that the best all have is that self belief and steely drive to excel,” he said.

“A lot of players have talent but not many have that determination to put other things aside to get to where they want to go.”

For the last ten years, Hampshire batting coach Tony Middleton has been the biggest influence on Vince’s career.

“James always had that something special that could go beyond county cricket, that ability to hit good bowling when it’s just slightly wrong for four,” said the former England A batsman, who first worked with Vince as Hampshire’s academy director in the mid-noughties.

“He was recommended for trials by Wiltshire and I watched him over the next season playing for his Wiltshire age-group team as a 13 year-old.

“The first time was at South Wilts CC’s ground in Bemerton.

“He was only 13 but as I drove into the ground he hit an offside four off the back foot.

“Then he hit another off-side boundary off the front foot followed by leg-side fours off the front and back foot, all within ten minutes of me arriving.

“That told me he had what it takes.”